## NAMEI vs. inode based file server
There are two different flavours of the AFS file server (the fs process): One uses inodes to store AFS data (volumes, files, metadata), the other uses real files.
The inode-based server needs a file system which supports access by inode and usually a special fsck is required so that the AFS data is not corrupted (since the server does some behind-the-scenes stuff with the file system). The NAMEI file server does not pose any unusual constraints on the underlying filesystem - it's an ordinary userspace program working with (silly-named) files.
You can easily see that you are using an NAMEI file server if there is a directory named `AFSIDat` and with subdirectories like `+` and `+1` in your `/vicep*`.
-- Tino Schwarze - 25 Jul 2003
## Recommended Partition Types for use with [[OpenAFS]]

namei Server

Server vicexx Partition Types

Any system type

Basically any filesystem you like, as the new namei file server does not do any fancy stuff behind the scenes but only accesses normal files (their names are a bit strange though).

Further, [[Tru64Unix]] 5.1 has only server support on ufs. The client is supported under Arla including `AdvFS` (but no server support as of Apr 2002). Server and client should work under DU4.0 and [[Tru64Unix]] 5.0.
- **Question:** Does this table imply that clients can't use the NAMEI backend and still need a specific filesystem? Will this ever change?
-- Todd Lewis - 06 Nov 2002
- **Another Question:** Does this mean that you can use an NFS mount point as a /vicexx if you use a NAMEI fileserver?
-- Chris McClimans - 25 Jul 2003